All Forum Posts by: Les Goodman

@Jacob Wilhite Welcome.

Hi landlords,

So I e-mailed my landlord about a few things happening with the property, see below along with his response. 

1. I hope the Holidays have been treating you well. There are a few things with the property I wanted to bring to your attention.
   
1. Front Gate, see photo attached. The spring "hinge" keeps coming loose. It was secured with nails originally and I have made multiple attempts to replace those nails, which I now cannot find. Also the gate is becoming increasingly difficult to open, close, and even lock. The upper portion is significantly rubbing against the frame and removing paint/wood.
2. Breaker/electrical issue. It seems the lights for the carport, all exterior outlets, and both bathroom outlets are on the same breaker. I'm not sure if there are any other outlets or not. The breaker likes to randomly get tripped. There are times over the years that I wouldn't notice this for days and would end up losing hundreds of dollars in food over the years from my freezers outside being shut off. I'm down to one freezer and this is still a continued problem and have no idea what trips it as there isn't much of a power change happening. I'm able to notice this more frequently because of being home more often these days.
3. Gardner - I'm not sure if you have changed gardeners or changed what they should be doing on my side of the property, but they have not come inside the gate in ages. I was here one day recently and did notice they went into Michelle's backyard, but then never come into mine.
4. I'll work on getting you those photos/videos of the wall/framing damaging from when the windows/siding was being replaced

Here was his response:

We should meet and I will bring our contact over so we can both review it. After that I will have our repair person to set up a time with you to make the necessary repairs. I want to review our contact that pertains to the yard and debris.

I live in a duplex and have been here for over 4 years. When moving in my landlord told me that there would be a gardener to clean up the fallen debris from 2 giant redwoods in the driveway and during this whole time they were also coming into my front and back yard with a blower to get debris. There is a huge tree in a neighbors yard that drops tons of leaves in the back.  

I want to response kindly asking to keep to e-mail communication as it is apparent a verbal statement or agreement will hold no validity in his mind. I know what my lease/contract says, it's a pretty standard one from ProPubForms.com. However as a business owner if I was paying for a service (i.e. gardener) and that service was not being done to it's full capacity I would want to know about it so it could be addressed with that contractor and not lay fault and blame to someone else. FYI Michelle is the tenant in the other unit to the duplex.

I know if I was the landlord I would be thanking my tenant for bringing it to my attention. On the flip side, if they are trying to reduce cost now I feel all they have to do is just tell me that, not take up anyone's time by going over the lease, but then why is the gardener still going onto the other unit's side?

Am I in the wrong for feeling this way? 

Thank you

I feel like I'm in the same situation with my landlord   and I'm in CA too. For the past 4 years they have paid for a yard work to be done.  Its mostly picking up debris in the front and back from 2 giant Redwood trees and then a neighbors tree drops tons of leave.

I sent an email sating this:

1. Gardner - I'm not sure if you have changed gardeners or changed what they should be doing on my side of the property, but they have not come inside the gate in ages. I was here one day recently and did notice they went into Michelle's  backyard, but then never come into mine.

His response was essentially let's go over the contract. 

When moving in he specifically told me that he would have a garden take care of all the fallen debris too.

@Chelsea Slattery

@Conrad Jackson do you have any thoughts on this

@Kendrick Walker

I just came across a local opportunity that might need a HML or all cash purchase. I got on BP today to do a little research and the first thread I came across your name as I am local to Santa Rosa as well. How to refi a HML is what I was looking into, but your post mentioned owner occupied HML, which would be an ideal goal for me on this specific property.

I'm still trying to get information and doing research on the property and how much work is really needed, but I do know it is a probate property.  Waiting to hear back from my agent for more info.

Any insight would greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Everyone

I'm in Santa Rosa, new to investing and looking into getting RE license. Call it a midlife crisis career change if you will. I was working towards my first purchase until loosing my job due to Covid so had to put the breaks on that for now.

First I want to thank all of you for your thoughts so far.  Great to hear from the lender side and to hear from some that are familiar/local to my area.

To answer some of the questions and give you a bigger picture.  

• - Single dad here, and have my kid half the time
• - The biggest rub in all of this is that I was furloughed from my job back in July, so I am trying to think of creative ways to get financing, but have yet to hear back from the lender I was speaking with
• - The 2nd rub now is that my landlord is selling the duplex I'm in, so I am fearful of an eviction or even a rent hike, current rent is $1815 and is exactly 10% more than when I moved in. It's a 2 bdrm 1.5 bath
• - I have no problem moving out of Santa Rosa, as my son goes to school in South Sebastopol, so I'm looking at SR, Sebastopol, Rohnert Park, and Cotati 

I am open to all kinds of possibilities from a duplex to a 4 bedroom SFH where I could rent out a room and Air bnb the spare room as well. I even just saw a huge price drop on a fixer. It's 3 bedroom asking $350k with very low HOA. It's not in an area I would want to settle down in, but I have no problem getting dirty and doing some work on a place to live in for a couple years and then rent out. There is even a 4 plex on the market near me that looks newly renovated, but qualifying is always the question.

My current duplex, asking $750k, West End Neighborhood of Santa Rosa. I think he is asking $50k to possibly $100k more than the comps. My landlord sold his property next door for about $725k and those were 2 seperate units both 3 bedroom 1 bath @ 1100 sq. ft. each.  The listing sq. ft. for my place says 1800, but there is no way my place is 900 sq. ft. I've measured wall to wall for taxes and it might be 800 at most and that is counting the stairs.

I'm a chef by trade and profession, 20+ years, and while I was making a decent salary and had a pretty awesome gig working at a private High School. A chef with a teacher's schedule is unheard of. However, due to the current Covid situation and seeing how bad the food industry is being affected I am at a "mid life crisis" stage of considering a new profession.  While there is a slim chance of returning to my job I am a hope for the best, but plan for the worse kind of person.

Option #1 Life Insurance Agent 

Option #2 Real Estate Agent

Thanks again for the thoughts.

Hi Everyone I am new to BP and thinking real estate but have always been eyeing it for some time now.  Lately I have been wondering about buying for myself first or buy rental first.  

I currently live in Santa Rosa, CA, an area that is going on 4 years in a row of fires.  Before someone asks, no I can't move. Nutshell reason is family, otherwise I would move somewhere more economical for myself and profession.

In doing some reading and research a comment that has stuck with me is, "if you can't afford to live in an area or neighborhood you want to live in, due to high cost, then consider purchasing a rental property in a lower cost area or neighborhood."

I would love to be able to house hack in some way shape or form. I'm tired of renting, but increased cash flow is always a good thing in my mind.

There are a number of scenarios in my head, but don't want to make this too long of a post.

Thoughts? 

Thank you in advance.